MY WRITING STYLE - ABRUPT ENDINGS

Many readers have commented that one of the aspects they do not like about my writing style is that my stories always have abrupt endings.

I agree.

I will make a conscious effort to correct this aspect.

But let me tell you how I developed this writing style of having abrupt endings.

I started writing short fiction in the early 1990s when I lived in the hills of Girinagar, a beautiful verdant green forest in the back of beyond below the mighty Sinhagad Fort and overlooking the placid blue waters of the Khadakvasla lake near Pune.

From Monday to Friday, during the daytime, I would be busy with my work.

But even on those working days, every morning and evening, I took long walks thinking interesting thoughts and by Friday the plot for my next story would be ready in my mind.

Then, on Saturday morning, I would start writing the story.

Yes, I did all my creative writing on weekends.

I would write a short story every weekend in long hand, which my darling wife would then type on her portable typewriter during the week.

(Yes, those were the days of the pen and paper, when you actually wrote with your pen on paper and later your story had to be typed on a typewriter in the prescribed format)

Then I would then send by snail-mail (by registered post) my “double-spaced neatly typed story” to magazines which published short fiction like Citadel, a magazine published monthly from Pune for which I was a regular fiction writer, or the Indian Express for its Thursday literary magazine called Citizen, or to other magazines like Femina, Savvy, Debonair, Caravan, Women's Era etc that carried fiction.

I preferred to have an atmosphere of solitude to write on weekends.

So on every Saturday morning I would drop my wife and kids at the bus stop and they would be off to spend the weekend in Pune City with their grannies.

Then, in my glorious solitude, I would to start writing.

I love writing, so once I start writing I transcend into a state of timelessness.

I would write the entire Saturday and Sunday and time would pass off in a jiffy as I would be lost to the world, in a state of timelessness.

Suddenly I would hear the shrill ring of the phone and I would realize that my two days of creative bliss were over.

Tt was already Sunday evening and my wife was calling to tell me she was starting from Pune and they all would be reaching Khadakwasla bus stop in an hour. (The Bus Journey from Pune to Girinagar took one hour)

The moment this dreaded phone call came, for me, panic would set in.

Now, I had just one hour left to finish my story.

(I had to complete the story I was writing otherwise it would spill over to the next weekend, and I did not want to breach my self-imposed one story per week target).

Therefore, I had no choice but to finish off the story with an abrupt ending – coup de grace...!!!

Maybe this developed into a habit and old habits die hard.

I will have to change my writing style and I will try my best to see that my stories have more unhurried, relaxed, satisfying, happy endings that leave a pleasant smooth aftertaste.

But how can I do this?

Nowadays, I blog.

And I try to write a blog a day - yes, I write one blog post per day.

I get up early and go for a long walk with my pet dog Sherry which ends in the park on the banks of the Mula River in Wakad near Pune.

During my morning walk I think interesting thoughts about what I am going to write on that day.

I start writing around 9 in the morning after my wife goes to work.

I love writing so much that I lose all sense of time and sometimes do not even have lunch.

My pet dog Sherry gets activated (by her body clock) around 4 o'clock in the evening and I know my wife would be arriving in an hour.

So I have to quickly finish off whatever I am writing and post it on my blog.

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

About Me

A creative person with a zest for
life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated
at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School
Pune, Vikram has published two books:COCKTAILa collection of fiction short stories about relationships
(2011) andAPPETITE FOR A STROLLa
book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel, writing short fiction and compiling his memoirs. An avid
blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative
non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, books, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories, self help and art of living essays in magazines and journals and published a number of professional research papers and reviews and edited in-house magazines and journals for many years, before the advent
of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to
creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse -
his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative
thoughts.